Why SEO guarantees are always lies

SHARE:

Organic Search

You’ll see it splashed across agency sites and adverts all over the internet: We Guarantee Page One Positions. Everybody knows that in the world of SEO, page one positions are gold dust. They’re the first thing customers ask about when they come in to talk about digital marketing, and every agency knows it. 

Digital marketing is big business, so it’s no wonder that there are agencies out there trying to set themselves apart with big promises. After all, best guesses aren’t what most clients want to hear. We know that what you’re looking for is reassurance that your investment will work out.

The unfortunate truth in SEO is that if there are guarantees, you’re dealing with a company that’s either inexperienced or dishonest. Here’s why:

They haven’t done the research 

If on the first conversation they’re promising a number one position, they haven’t got anything to base it on. The likelihood of a number one position depends on the competitiveness of your industry, the SEO strategies of your competitors and the ins and outs of your site. Without a bit of digging, there’s no way to know. You want an SEO provider that can offer you answers based on knowledge, not hot air. 

It’s easy to get a worthless No.1

You want to be number one for the keywords that bring you conversions. If you’re a pizza restaurant, there’s no benefit to you gaining a number one position for a bakery, but a sneaky agency might take advantage of a keyword with low search volume or low activity to gain you a first place position, even though it wouldn’t make any impact on traffic or conversions. We’ve seen plenty of people who have no idea why they’re not getting improvements when they have lots of number one positions; it’s because those number one positions weren’t chosen for performance. They were chosen for appearances.

Nobody knows Google’s algorithm

The primary reason that everything in SEO is an experts best guess is because Google keeps their cards very close to its chest when it comes to ranking factors. Nobody outside of a very small team within Google knows what that algorithm is looking for and when it is updated, therefore nobody can guarantee that they are giving the algorithm exactly what it wants. If you’re looking for confirmation straight from the source, Google’s own help pages say it loud and clear: ‘No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google’.

They aren’t considering all the factors

SEO is a world of balances. When we evaluate a site, we look at several things that will be affecting the ranking. The build and content of your site, the link profile, competitor activity, the social media activity – all of this and more will be making an impact. What’s more, the external influences that are entirely out of our control need to be taken into account such as algorithm changes and natural fluctuations. Anybody making guarantees isn’t considering that an SEO strategy that’s perfect today could be entirely different next week.  

You’re talking to a salesman

No SEO specialist worth their salt will say anything about a guarantee. They will show you improvements on your own site and weaknesses in competitors that make us sure we can gain a strong position, but a guarantee will only come back to bite them if something derails that’s out of their control. A salesman doesn’t have this same understanding of SEO, and may say things that they think you want to hear to get the sale over the line. That’s why at Zinc, our sales team work closely with the departments to ensure they understand exactly what they’re selling and how it will benefit our customers.    

At Zinc, we want to get you the best results, and our experienced, qualified SEO team will do everything they can to achieve them. You need a team on your side that’s going to be honest and transparent about the highs and lows of SEO. We supply our clients with a monthly report that shows you exactly what’s been achieved and what has dropped in the rankings, and what we’re going to do about it. 

If you’re interested in working with an SEO team who will be clear about what you’re going to achieve and how we’ll be achieving it, speak to us today.

Should Your Brand Launch a Google Ads Remarketing Campaign?

Learn More

Why You Should Make Landing Pages Part Of Your Digital Marketing Strategy

Learn More

8 Things To Do Before Starting Marketing Services

Learn More

Get great content, tips and news straight to your inbox